MS Dhoni said India can draw some confidence from their win at Perth during the last tour © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Sydney: Jan 6, 2012
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday said that his side can beat the formidable Australians on a bouncy track at Perth, but to achieve that they will have to get their act together.
“As I always say, it’s a fresh start. Plenty of people had told me [that] Sydney is a happy hunting ground but it’s not about what the stats say; it’s always about what you are doing on that particular day […] So it’s not about what has happened in the series but we will definitely look to win the Perth game,” said Dhoni after India’s drubbing by an innings and 68 runs at Sydney.
"What we need to do is not just blame one individual. As a team we need to perform," Dhoni told reporters. "It's very important to hunt in packs rather than individuals. In patches we have done well. We have got the opposition out. In the last innings we have seen we can score 400-odd runs. We need to get everything together," he said.
"We need to do well as a bowling unit and we need to bat well as a batting unit and come off good fielding performances. We need to get it all together," the Indian skipper was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Dhoni said Team India doesn’t lack in confidence despite heavy loses to Australia in the first two Test matches.
“That’s something that can always get you the bit of confidence that’s needed but it’s not that we are lacking in confidence as of now. I always believe it is important to be in the present. People always talk about what you have done at a particular venue in the past,” he said.
“For example Sydney, [where] we have always done well; but it’s not [like we can] just turn up on the field [and history] will help us perform. A bit of stats will help us but it all depends on how we utilise the next five or six days that we have got and how we turn up on the field,” Dhoni said after the match.
The Indian skipper accepted that the failure of the star-studded batting lineup is a cause for concern.
“To some extent, yes, because if you see the first two Test matches, the top eight [batsmen], including [Ravichandran] Ashwin, everybody has got a fifty which means everybody has scored runs. It’s just that we need to hunt in packs, get together as a team and if not [score] big hundreds, than at least get a few fifties [in tandem] so we can score over 350-odd runs in the very first innings and then look to put pressure on the opposition,” he said.
Dhoni praised his Australian counterpart Michael Clarke for playing a brilliant innings in the match.
“He batted brilliantly throughout. He played his shots which is very crucial and once he got the [hang] of the wicket, he started dominating the bowlers. It was very difficult to contain him. We tried a few different ways [to get him out] right from bowling on the stumps to wide off the stumps but he was scoring freely and he was well supported by Hussey and Ricky Ponting initially,” Dhoni said.
